Talensi residents demonstrate against Chinese mining company

Residents in the Talensi District of the Upper East Region have staged a massive demonstration against Chinese mining company, Shaanxi.

The residents are protesting against the operations of the company which they deem as dangerous to their environment.

They petitioned President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to revoke all the licenses of Shaanxi.

Shaanxi, according to them, is operating in several unauthorised concessions and is responsible for some 61 deaths said to have been recorded between 2013 and 2019. They said some compensation due the deceased miners had not been paid and the Ghanaians engaged by the company were being exploited with a dishwasher, who receives Gh¢10 a day, earning more elsewhere at the end of the month than the underpaid Ghanaians at the company.

“The Minerals Commission has been encouraging Shaanxi Mining Ghana Limited and Yenyeya Mining Group on their illegal activities by granting them large-scale [operating] permit. Mr. President, we create your indulgence to set up an investigative committee to investigate the recent deaths, the activities of Shaanxi and the other small-scale miners. We believe this will bring lasting solution and peace to Talenteng. We also suggest to your good office, the inclusion of the following bodies in the committee: Minerals Commission, the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI), the Ghana Police Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and a representative from the Concerned Citizens of Talensi.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo

“Mr. President, we are by this petition appealing to you to get the Minerals Commission to award licences to small-scale miners to mine in the Gbane area. We also urge you, Your Excellency, to stop any attempt to de-block the Gbane area for large-scale mining. We are, by this petition, wholeheartedly and humbly requesting your excellent intervention to revoke all mining licences granted to Yenyeya Mining Group (Yenyeya Enterprise) and Shaanxi Mining Ghana Limited,” the demonstrators petitioned.

They carried placards with warnings like: “Next action is militancy”; “Last action is war”; “All die be die”; and “No Ghanaian can do this in China. Why Ghana?” among others.